


Hero

by SkyLeaf



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26325670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyLeaf/pseuds/SkyLeaf
Summary: Even if Groose was not the chosen hero, he could still be the hero they needed him to be.
Relationships: Groose & Impa (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Almost ten years after Skyward Sword, and I am still not really over it, so I decided to write a little fic about Groose and how I think he might have come to the realisation that, even if he is not the hero chosen by the goddess, he can still be a hero and help others.

The tiny birds were nothing like Loftwings. They might resemble each other in appearance, a layer of feathers, a beak, and wings, but the birds outside the temple was nothing like the Loftwings he was used to seeing in the sky. It was about more than just the fact that they were small, so small that there was no doubt in his mind about what the outcome would be, should he try to convince one of them to take him back home to Skyloft. The difference extended even to the way they acted, bouncing around on the ground, always just out of reach as they looked over at him, their heads constantly moving, small, rapid movements that almost seemed too violent for the tiny birds, only to fly away when he tried to reach out to touch them to see if the feathers really were as soft as those of his Loftwing.

“Come on!” as one of them finally seemed willing to move closer to him, looking up at him as it hopped closer, leaving tiny marks in the ground below, only to spread its wings and fly away when he was centimetres away from it, Groose could no longer hold back his annoyance. “I am not dangerous; I just want to know what you guys are! I have to find a way home, and since Link has abandoned me to go save Zelda and be the brave knight who found her in time, you guys are kind of my only chance of doing that!”

But the birds did not seem to care about his troubles, simply sending him another look before they moved a couple of metres away from him. Letting out a groan, Groose tried to picture what his Loftwing would look like next to those tiny things. It would tower up above them with its purple and red feathers outshining the dull colours of these birds as it would show them how a real bird would behave, lowering its beak just a little as it leant into the little pat. He doubted that he had ever missed his Loftwing more than he did right then, sitting there, with the birds looking at him for a moment before fluttering away and whoever the guy standing in front of a rock a few metres away was.

“If you want the birds to like you, you will have to show them that you are not a danger to them.” the voice reached him, coming from the door of the temple he had just left, sounding surprisingly loud for such an old woman.

Groose bit back a sigh. Great, she had decided to follow him outside. Perhaps she would even seize the chance to remind him once again that, whatever his role in the little adventure Link had found was, it would not be as the brave knight coming to rescue Zelda. And here he had thought that he would at least be left alone to try to come to terms with all of that.

“Listen, Grannie,” he said, not even bothering to turn around, “I don’t know if you have stayed in there for so long that you do not remember anymore, but when someone storms out of the room, it usually means that they are not interested in talking to you.”

He had not expected for it to be enough to make her leave him alone, not really, but even then, he used the fact that he was sitting with his back towards her to roll his eyes as she just moved closer to him, her steps making the dry ground beneath them crunch a little. It was a tiny sound, but even then, with the memory of the monster that had emerged from the pit in front of the temple the last time the Surface had decided that it would not be as solid as he had thought fresh in his mind, Groose had to press his lips shut to keep himself from asking the old lady to stand still and stop making the world shake any more than what was strictly necessary.

If she had noticed the way he had not been able to keep his shoulders from rising, at least she did not comment on it. As much as he hated to admit it, Groose was grateful for that as she sat down next to him, moving so slowly that he almost wanted to ask her if she was waiting for her hair to grow enough to allow the plait to become a couple of centimetres longer before she would sit down. But he remained quiet, not wanting to give her another chance to throw some condescending comment about how he was probably just meant to play the role of some kind of helper in his face, allowing her to be the first to bring an end to the silence between them.

And that was exactly what she did.

With a hint of something in her voice he did not know what to think of—it sounded almost like amusement, though he knew that that could not be right—she looked over at him. “I can see that you are upset,” she began, saying it almost like he would not already be aware of that. Here he had been foolish enough to believe Link when he had explained everything that had happened since he and Zelda had both disappeared, how he had met an old woman who seemed to possess and almost eerie ability to know what those in front of her were thinking, and now it seemed that that had been nothing but lies. But for some reason, Groose did not interrupt her, instead remaining quiet as she continued, “but you should know that it will not help you to take your anger out on anyone else. That will not allow you to achieve your dreams.”

“Oh, but then what will?” finally, he was not able to continue to stubbornly look ahead. Still, the fact that he looked over at her, meeting her gaze for a moment, only to immediately lower his, instead finding himself captivated by the almost pendulum-like plait that swung back and forth in front of her face, was only due to how there really was nothing else to look at, not with the birds that refused to come near him and the guy who looked at some rock like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. “No, really, do go on, Grannie, I am waiting for you to tell me what I should do about the fact that not only am I stranded down here, I am also forced to sit here and wait while this… thing hunts down my friend. So tell me, what will help me right now?”

He had thought that she would find a way to throw all of his doubts right back at him within a second. That, or that he would finally have been able to make her leave, forcing him to have to listen as she would struggle to get up from the ground and walk back to the temple with steps that made it seem almost like she wanted to remind him of the monster that had risen up from the ground.

But none of that happened. Instead, the old woman simply glanced at him, Groose unable to meet her gaze with how she made it seem like she was able to look into his soul. It was almost a relief when she spoke again, giving him a short break from having to look at her and wonder just how she had come to sit there in the temple and what thoughts were going through her head as she looked at him. “I did not say that there was nothing for you to do to help your friend.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Groose let out a snort, for once able to ignore the hint of annoyance that showed on the old woman’s face, “you just told me that it was not my role to head out to save her and that I should be satisfied to just sit here and help Link from time to time. Tell me, Grannie what is it about Link that made him so special? Why does he get to leave this place? Why did you decide that he is the only one capable of saving Zelda? Because, just so you know, I am better than him at almost anything, fencing, flying, running, everything. I even almost won the Wing Ceremony, and I would have won it if I had just been a little more focused that day. So why him? What is it about me that made you think that I can never hope to be anything other than some kind of helper, waiting here for Link to return?”

She let him finish his little speech, allowed him to ramble on about how he would already have saved Zelda if he had been the one to be chosen to go after her to the Surface without interrupting him once. Only once he looked over at her, waiting for her answer as he prepared himself for the moment where he would have to prove to her that she had been wrong about how his role in all of this would only be that of the helper, did she speak, her voice sounding just as ancient as it had done when he had first met her. “Though you were not granted the role you may have wished for, I never meant for you to think that you will be nothing more than a helper to the chosen hero, nor did I try to claim that your friend is better than you.”

“Link is not my friend,” Groose said, hurrying to correct her mistake. How could she think that he would ever willingly call himself the friend of someone like him? Not to mention the fact that Link clearly had all the friends he would need with how Groose had never seen him and Zelda alone for more than a couple of minutes at a time.

A twitch that seemed almost like the beginning of a smile made the old lady seem a little younger as she looked up at him. “Perhaps not, but you are at the very least united in your quest to save the spirit maiden, Zelda. As for why Link is the chosen hero rather than you, I am afraid that it is not my place to tell you the reason. The only thing I can tell you is that I was not the one to choose him.”

And there it was again, the insistent claim that Link, the little boy who had always managed to put on a confused expression whenever Groose had talked to him, for some reason clearly trying his best to make it seem like he did not understand just why Groose did not like him, had been chosen by the goddess herself. Groose was barely able to keep himself from rolling his eyes as he spoke. “So you are telling me that you would not have picked him if it had been your choice?”

“I did not say that, although the question is irrelevant as it is not my place to doubt the choices of the goddess. All I am saying is that you are underestimating the change you are capable of creating on your own. Just because you are not the chosen hero does not mean that you will not be able to be a hero yourself. You can still do just as much to save your friend as Link can, though you will have to go about it in a different way.”

“Yeah, right.” he let out a sarcastic laugh, “because there is a lot for me to do here. Yeah, let me see, I could…” he tapped his chin, looking down at the old lady as he waited for her to finally realise that she was doing nothing with her stubborn need to continue to insist that he would somehow be content with staying there at the temple with her. But the seconds passed with no signs of her being about to realise the stupidity of what she was saying, and so, he gave up, settling for throwing his arms out to the sides, the gesture pointing towards the entire area in front of them with all the birds and the rock that must hide some great secret with how the guy was still inspecting it, “continue to look at these birds and beg them to help me get back home where I can tell the headmaster that his daughter is doomed with how Link is supposedly the only one allowed to even make an attempt at saving her. Or, wait, this is a good one; I could head inside the temple and try to clean it up a little, considering how you have clearly not been doing that for ages with all that moss. Or, wait, this is even better; I could stay right here and wait for that monster to return to kill us all with how you are really naïve enough to believe that it was anything other than luck that allowed Link to seal it that first time. Truly, Grannie, I think those are amazing options, thank you so much for letting me know of all the ways I can spend the rest of my life, I really appreciate it.” with that, he turned from her, resting his forearms against his knees to allow him to lean forwards, hunched in over himself.

Had he done the same back in Skyloft, had it been Cawlin and Stritch standing next to him, he knew what the reaction would have been. They would have tried their best to cheer him up, complimenting his hair and assuring him that he was right, that Link had no role to play in the story, ultimately giving up and leaving him alone to avoid him taking his anger out on them. But, almost like she wanted to remind him of how he was as far away from home as he could possibly get, the old lady did none of that. Instead, she continued to look at him, Groose feeling her gaze on him just as clearly as if it had been the dull end of the swords they would use for practice, not sharp enough to hurt, but more than capable of reminding him of the way it stung.

“You are blinding yourself to the options you really do have.” the old woman took a deep breath, the little pause almost being enough to make him want to turn around and ask her just what he was missing. However, he was just barely able to remain still, not willing to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she had made him move. Still, the old woman did not seem to mind, continuing the next moment without acknowledging the fact that he was still refusing to look at her. “You say that since you are not the chosen hero, the one who will head out to search for your friend, you have no other choice than to wait for Link to return to this place, thus making yourself overlook all the things you can do to help him from this temple.” she must have known that he was about to interrupt her, unable to bite back the comment that he was really not interested in helping Link pretend to be the hero in front of Zelda, for she hurried to add the next part. “And, as I am sure you will realise if you only allow yourself a couple of seconds where you do not have to constantly repeat the fact that you were not the one to be chosen by the goddess to yourself, right now, helping Link in his quest will be the same as helping Zelda. The goddess made it so that their fates are so closely connected that they cannot be separated from one another, but that does not mean that that will necessarily be enough. They will need all the help they can get, help I know you could bring to them.”

“But I,” Groose began, only getting a couple of syllables into his protest before he fell silent. He had been about to tell the old woman that he did not care, that nothing she could tell him would be enough to get him to help Link, but the words had died before they had even left his mouth. Perhaps it was for the better. After all, with the way she had yet to look away from him, there was little doubt in Groose’s mind about the fact that he would not be able to lie to her, not without her immediately sensing the lie with the same kind of certainty that would summon his Loftwing whenever he would call for it, no matter how far away it was.

Link was an annoyance, yes, with the way he almost seemed to try to show the rest of Skyloft how he did not need them, having enough in his friendship with Zelda already, but if it came down to it, Groose knew that he would help Link in his quest a hundred times before he would give up, if giving up meant leaving Zelda in danger, wherever she might be in that moment.

So, turning back to look at the old woman, he finally lowered his shoulders. It was not a lot, and he made sure to put a frown onto his face, just to show her that he was not convinced yet, but even then, he knew from the look in her eyes that she knew that he had given in. “All right,” he mumbled, “You are right, I do want to help Link if it will be what makes the difference in his quest to save Zelda. But don’t you see?” he threw his arms out towards the forest that lay there in front of them. “There is nothing I can do down here. I am great in the air, amazing with a sword, but what can I do to help Link from here?”

“You are selling yourself short, my friend,” the old woman said, repeating the same words she had thrown at him when he had turned around to leave the temple, unable to look at Link as he returned from the bottom of the pit. Only, now, it felt less like she was saying it to try to push him further down, to rub the fact that he had no place among them in his face. Instead, it felt almost comforting to listen to her as she added, “there is plenty of things you can do to help Link from here. In fact, I would say that one of the tasks with the greatest importance to his quest will be found here.”

“And what is it?” even as he asked, Groose already knew what the answer would be. He only needed to remember the way the ground had shook beneath him, how he had been thrown to the side, clinging to the side of the temple as he waited for the dirt beneath him to disappear, revealing that the Surface was not any more solid than the sky after all, to know that.

The old woman confirmed his fears the next second, turning from him to cast a glance in the direction of where he knew the front of the temple to be located. “That monster… Link has sealed it yet again, but we would be foolish to believe that it will not be able to escape again. Right now, it is slumbering down there, waiting for its moment to escape the hold of the sealing spike as it gathers its strength, readying itself for the moment when it can unleash chaos onto the world once again. When that moment comes, I know that Link will need all the help he can get to defeat it.” she looked back at him, reaching out, forming a gesture that made it look almost like she had been about to reach out for him before changing it to instead point towards him. “Link will need you to be here and for you to be ready to fight alongside him as you force the monster back down.”

“But what can I do?” Groose said, unable to let go of the feeling that, had it been anyone but the old woman sitting across from him, they would have laughed at the way he continued to repeat the same question over and over again. “I doubt that you have a spare sword lying around inside that temple.”

A tiny laugh filled the air between them. It felt so different from the way he would sometimes laugh whenever his less fortunate classmates would make a mistake in class, less harsh. Shaking her head, the old woman smiled at him. “No, I fear that I do not have another sword for you to use. But I know that all of the greatest heroes did not need a sword to change the world. I am confident that you will find a way to help both Link and Zelda and that you will find that you can do so just fine without a sword.”

“How?”

“That is a question you will have to find the answer to yourself.” with that last, cryptic piece of advice, the old woman got up from the ground. She moved faster than she had done before as she walked back to the temple, and not for the first time, Groose found himself wondering if she was doing it on purpose, if she had wanted for him to be reminded of the monster when she had first gone to talk him.

But now, he was left alone, and with how the birds did not seem friendlier than they had done ten minutes before, Groose was left with nothing better to do than to think about what she had told him.

If he looked at the situation he had found himself in, Groose would be the first to admit that it did not look good, that he had got in over his head. Here he was, stuck on the Surface, a place his Loftwing could not reach, with no way of getting out, and with Link having left on a quest the details of which he either could not or did not want to tell him. Groose was not dumb enough to think that it was a question of the former being the case. Though Link would most likely have been willing to set aside their past for Zelda’s sake, if Link had thought him to be just half as helpless as Groose had felt, then he could not blame him for not wanting to tell him the details of the quest he had supposedly been given by the goddess herself.

Really, after everything that had happened, it would have been too much to hope for Link being willing to spend more than a moment with him, making it almost unbelievable that he had ended up trying to explain what exactly the Surface was. At least Groose knew that he would not have done the same. If someone had captured his Loftwing and trapped it beneath the island, he doubted that he would ever have been willing to help them no matter how much might have depended on it. But Link had done all of that, he had tried his best to explain just what was going on around them when Groose had looked to the side and seen the tiny birds, barely able to believe his own eyes.

More than anything, Groose wanted to claim that he did not feel anything other than the joy of having got the chance to see Link upset and worried about his Loftwing during those moments he had been able to tease him about it before Zelda had shown up to, once again, take Link’s side in an instant, But as he sat there, he could not deny that the sinking feeling in his stomach felt a lot like guilt, spreading through his veins as he recalled the way the Loftwing had called for its rider when Groose had finished closing off the entrance to the cave with solid, wooden planks. It had been terrified; he had known that back then, pushing back the little voice in his head that told him to stop and let the bird go by telling himself that he was doing everyone a favour by keeping Link from participating in the race. With the person he had deemed to be his main opponent eliminated, he would be sure to win the race, win the chance to talk with Zelda without Link there to steal away her attention.

It had all seemed logical and reasonable back then, but as Groose looked back at it, he only saw himself stand there with the planks, struggling with the bird as he shut off its only way of escape, ignoring the fact that he knew exactly how much he cared for his own Loftwing, how he knew that being trapped in confined spaces were one of the few things the bird feared more than anything else.

Maybe, just maybe, he would apologise to Link for that once he returned from wherever it was that his quest had taken him. He owed him that much, Groose knew that, but that did not change the fact that just imagining himself saying the words to Link, the way it would no doubt make him open his eyes wide, almost like he did not believe what he was hearing, made his stomach feel like it had been replaced with a rock larger than the one the guy in front of him was looking at.

The more he stared at the rock, the more it felt like the idea of apologising would be enough to strangle him, so Groose tore his gaze away from it, instead looking towards his hands.

He could still see the places where splinters from the wood had cut into the skin, having only been able to dig out a few of them. Really, it was beyond him that he had actually been able to close off the entrance with how much the bird had fought him. Perhaps he should not have been so surprised. After all, despite how he was almost certain that Zelda had told her father about him, most likely exaggerating the issues between him and Link, Groose was aware of the fact that the teachers of the Knight Academy knew that he was unparalleled when faced with the task of constructing something, whether that would be a hut, a minor repair somewhere in Skyloft, or simply the chance to try his best to imagine something grander. Perhaps it was simply the way Link had always carved those little figurines, Zelda smiling brightly whenever he would give her one, that had made him wish that he could exchange his abilities that had earned him the honour of repairing the stairs that connected the Statue of Hylia with the rest of Skyloft. Groose liked to think that that was the answer he was looking for, though an unyielding pain in his stomach told him that he had yet to truly reach the end of the issue.

One of the splinters must have worked its way to the surface on its own, for as Groose sat there, he was able to pick it out, careful not to injure himself as he got rid of the tiny piece of wood.

That was when the idea struck him. It took everything in him not to leap up high into the air, letting out a triumphant yell, instead pushing himself off the ground in a way that would at least not give the birds another chance to show him just what they thought about him coming to disturb them. As he ran back towards the temple, he could not have cared less about the loud sound of his feet hitting the ground, the joy of finally being able to do more than sitting there, waiting for things to happen around him, drowning out the fear of seeing the monster return.

Groose threw open the door, stepping into the temple with a wide smile. “Grannie,” he exclaimed, “I know what I will have to do, and I know how I will have to do it!”

He had thought that he had expected for her to look up at him with a confused look, surprised that he had returned rather than remained outside, feeling sorry for himself, but as the old woman simply smiled at him, Groose knew that, deep down, he had waited for that from the moment he had first decided to enter the temple again.

Slowly walking down the steps that led up the heavy looking doors separating them from the back part of the temple, the old woman looked almost like she was growing younger with every step, though Groose was not childish enough to think that that could really be the case. In truth, it was probably just the same mixture of joy and hope that made him add another quick step showing its effects as she looked over at him, the question already there before she had uttered it. “And what might that be?”

“I need to build a machine, a large one, larger than anything I have ever built before.” in his mind, he could already see the drawings, angles connecting and supporting each other, rails lying on the ground to allow for mobility, a way to transport the ammunition to it, numbers and equations whirling through it all, making it all seem more like heading into a thundercloud unprepared than anything else. “But I will need your help.”

“Tell me, and I will do my best.”

Deep down, he must have known that she would say that after having gone through the trouble of heading outside to talk with him and making him see what his place in all of this was, but that did not keep Groose from having to swallow a couple of times, the stinging sensation of tears pressing against his eyes being entirely unexpected as he spoke. “Well, if it is not too much of a hassle, I need something to write on and write with. That, and then wood. Lots of that.”

The old lady only sent him a smile. “I can assure you that you are not asking for too much, my friend. I will see what I can do, just wait here.” she walked over to the door he had just gone through, but just as she had pushed it open, making Groose wonder how such an old woman was able to make the door budge at all, she turned towards him once again. “I take this to mean that you have found your role in this upcoming battle.”

“Yes.” Groose nodded. “I have.”

He could not have been more thankful for how the old woman did not ask him for any more details, instead heading outside and letting the door slam shut behind her. As much as he wanted to deny it, there was something about the realisation that felt almost fragile, like it might break if he was not careful, unable to remain intact if let out into the world. So Groose remained quiet about everything but the most vital parts of his plan as the old woman returned, bringing with her a couple of scraps of paper as well as a pen, handing him both with a silent smile and leaving him to his work.

For there was a mountain of work ahead of him, work unlike anything he had ever faced before. But for once there was not that hint of fear that he would not be the very best at it, that Link would somehow find a way to surpass him, earning him both the admiration of the teachers as well as Zelda, no emotion for him to push down and hide. Here, he was in his element, certain to succeed if he only tried hard enough. He would make sure that the world would come to remember him as the inventor of not only the first catapult built on the Surface, but the best one as well. If it would be what it would take to help Link save Zelda, then he would do it a thousand times. And so, Groose leant in over the paper and began the tedious work of calculating, wondering, erasing, and trying again as he slowly developed and adjusted the finer mechanics of the machine.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! If you want to find me, I am [theseventhsage](https://theseventhsage.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr.


End file.
